Kidnapped Australian woman rescued in Ecuador

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Kidnapped Australian woman rescued in Ecuador

An Australian woman who was kidnapped in Ecuador, along with a British woman, has been rescued, authorities have confirmed.

The women were abducted by a Colombian gang on Friday while visiting the Cuyabeno nature reserve in the Tarapoa region, in Sucumbios province, near the Colombian border.

Danger zone ... the Cuyabeno nature reserve near Ecuador's border with Colombia.

Danger zone ... the Cuyabeno nature reserve near Ecuador's border with Colombia.

Britain's Sky News says Ecuadoran army officials have named the women as 32-year-old Australian Fiona Louise Wilde and 23-year-old Briton Katherine Sara Cox.

The Ecuadoran Interior Minister, Jose Serrano, said the pair "are in good condition".

Police and armed forces personnel "located and rescued the two girls, Australian and English, kidnapped in Cuyabeno", Mr Serrano said on Saturday on Twitter.

The Australian embassy in the Chilean capital Santiago, which is responsible for Ecuador, confirmed the rescue.

The mission "has confirmed that an Australian woman and a British woman who were kidnapped in Ecuador have been released and are currently in the care of Ecuadoran authorities", a foreign office spokeswoman told AFP.

They were travelling in a canoe as part of a group of seven tourists - five foreigners and two Ecuadorans - and two local Ecuadoran guides.

The Foreign Minister, Bob Carr, said the area of Ecuador where the women were abducted was not safe territory and Australia's travel warning made that clear.

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"Australian travel warnings make the point this is not safe territory, it is underpopulated, it is remote," Senator Carr told Network Ten.

"The border area has criminal activity, including kidnapping."

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade strongly advises Australians not to travel to the border provinces of Carchi, Orellana and Sucumbios in the country's northeast because of the "very high threat of violent criminal activity in these areas".

Britain's latest travel advisory to Ecuador also warned against travelling near the Colombian border, especially in Sucumbios province where the pair were abducted.

"Avoid all travel to the border areas in the northern province of Sucumbios," says the advisory.

"Colombian guerrilla groups and criminal gangs are known to have influence in all areas bordering Colombia. Foreigners, including oil workers, are potential targets in these areas and the crime rate is high."

Ecuador's environment ministry had reported the assault on Friday but said nothing of a kidnapping.

It quoted local people as saying that three members of a Colombian gang of ex-paramilitary fighters known as the Black Eagles were behind the abduction.

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The governments of Colombia and Ecuador co-ordinated their efforts in bringing about the tourists' rescue, the Ecuadoran interior ministry acknowledged.

AAP

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